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August 19 in spaceflight

28 orbital launches flew on August 19, the earliest of them in 1959, and 27 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 3 spaceflight and astronomy events on August 19. Below are the pictures NASA published on August 19 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

28MISSIONS

27 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1959, the most recent 2026.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

3ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from -295 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

6IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for August 19, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on August 19

NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day, for this calendar date in each of the last several years.

NASA Science

2026

NASA Science

How many moons can you see? The best answer is five: four orbiting Jupiter and Luna orbiting Earth. This multi-moon picture was possible because Earth's Moon moved directly in front of Jupiter last week. The featured image is a series of exposures near alignment taken from Westchester, New York, USA. The sunlit crescent of Earth's Moon, on the lower left, is overexposed, while the Moon's night side, on the upper right, is faintly illuminated by Earthshine. Lined up nearly vertically above our Moon, listed from bottom to top, are Jupiter's bright Galilean satellites: Ganymede, Io, Callisto, and Europa. Callisto, Ganymede, and Io are larger than Earth's Moon, while Europa is only slightly smaller. NASA's robotic spacecraft Juno is currently orbiting Jupiter and has made close passes near three of these moons.Tomorrow's picture: stairway to heaven

NASA · public domain

NASA Science

2025

NASA Science

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

© Adam Block — used with the credit NASA publishes

NASA Science

2024

NASA Science

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

NASA · public domain

NASA Science

2023

NASA Science

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

NASA · public domain

NASA Science

2022

NASA Science

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

© TWAN — used with the credit NASA publishes

NASA Science

2021

NASA Science

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

© Miguel Claro — used with the credit NASA publishes

What happened on August 19

  1. -295

    The first temple to Venus, the Roman goddess of love, beauty and fertility, is dedicated by Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges during the Third Samnite War.

    Venus (mythology) ↗

  2. 1960

    Sputnik program: Korabl-Sputnik 2: The Soviet Union launches the satellite with the dogs Belka and Strelka, 40 mice, two rats and a variety of plants.

    List of spacecraft called Sputnik ↗

  3. 1964

    Syncom 3, the first geostationary communication satellite, is launched. Two months later, it would enable live coverage of the 1964 Summer Olympics.

    Syncom ↗

Every launch on August 19

28 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2026Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 17-50SpXSUCCESS
  2. 2025Kinetica 1 | 7 satellitesCASSUCCESS
  3. 2022Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 4-27SpXSUCCESS
  4. 2022Long March 2D | Yaogan 35 Group 04CASCSUCCESS
  5. 2019Electron | Look Ma, No Hands (Rideshare)RLSUCCESS
  6. 2019Long March 3B/E | Zhongxing-18 (Chinasat-18)CASCSUCCESS
  7. 2017H-IIA 204 | Michibiki 3 (QZS-3)MHISUCCESS
  8. 2016Delta IV M+(4,2) | AFSPC-6ULASUCCESS
  9. 2015H-IIB 304 | Kounotori 5 (HTV-5)MHISUCCESS
  10. 2014Long March 4B | Gaofen 2 & HeweliuszCASCSUCCESS
  11. 2012Zenit 3SL | Intelsat 21SLSUCCESS
  12. 2003Kosmos-3M | Strela-3 133 & 134NPSUCCESS
  13. 1998Long March 2C/SD | Iridium 76 & 78CASCSUCCESS
  14. 1997Long March 3B | Agila 2CASCSUCCESS
  15. 1992Soyuz U | Resurs-F 16VKSSUCCESS
  16. 1987Soyuz U | Zenit-8 51CCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1983Long March 2C | FSW-0 5CASCSUCCESS
  18. 1982Soyuz-U | Soyuz T-7CCCPSUCCESS
  19. 1976Luna | Luna-24CCCPSUCCESS
  20. 1972Mu-4S | DenpaISASSUCCESS
  21. 1971Voskhod | Zenit-4M 21CCCPFAILURE
  22. 1970Kosmos 11K63 | DS-P1-Yu 35CCCPSUCCESS
  23. 1970Thor Delta M | Skynet IBUSAFSUCCESS
  24. 1969Voskhod | Zenit-4 62CCCPSUCCESS
  25. 1966Atlas SLV-3 Agena D | RTS-1 2USAFSUCCESS
  26. 1964Thor Delta D | Syncom 3USAFSUCCESS
  27. 1960Vostok 8K72 | Korabl'-Sputnik-2CCCPSUCCESS
  28. 1959Thor Agena A | Discoverer 6USAFSUCCESS

FIELD KIT / LIBRARY

SPONSORED

General-audience astronomy and spaceflight — none of it a textbook.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Links here cost you nothing extra.

  • LISTING

    Cosmos — Carl Sagan

    Still the best single argument for why any of this matters, and it leaves the arithmetic in. For a reader who wants the science, not just the awe.

    VIEW

  • LISTING

    Pale Blue Dot — Carl Sagan

    The case for leaving Earth, written by someone unsentimental about how hard that is. Suits readers who want the argument rather than the poster.

    VIEW

  • LISTING

    Project Hail Mary — Andy Weir

    Hard-SF problem solving in The Martian's key — for anyone who liked the engineering more than the peril. The only novel on this list.

    VIEW

BROWSE opens an Amazon search, not a specific recommendation.

LINKS AMAZON.COM

Sources and licences

Event text and thumbnails come from Wikipedia and are used under CC BY-SA 4.0. Images are drawn only from Wikimedia Commons, which does not accept non-free content — each thumbnail links to its file page, where its licence and author are recorded.

Launch records are from The Space Devs’ Launch Library 2. Pictures are NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day; NASA imagery is generally not subject to copyright, but individual APOD entries are frequently the property of the photographer, and each caption says which applies.